I haven't strung my own racquet yet, but since I just got a new stringer for Christmas, I can hardly wait to break a string. I'd cut my old strings out and string it up anyway, but I also just got two new racquets for Christmas. My new racquets came stung with the string of my choice (excluding gut), so I hate to cut out fresh $20 strings just to use my new stringer. I'll just have to wait until my strings break (and from the way they're moving and fraying, it won't be long).

For the past 15 years (why did I wait so long to get my own stringer?), I've been bringing my racquets to a local tennis shop. If it was a real emergency, they'd string it up while I waited. But typically it was next day service. They charge $20 plus the cost of the string (with a minor increase over their cost).

So I figure that between the $20 labor cost, the $2-$4 string up-charge cost and the $15 in gas to deliver and pick up my racquet (I live out of town in the country), my new stringer will save me $37+ per string job (not to mention the 2 hours drive time to drop off and then pick up my racquets).

I've been stringing for myself for over 13 years now. I've been stringing for customers around 12 years. My prices are low in the area, as I charge cost+$1 on strings (the $1 to cover shipping) plus $15 labor.

Takes....
Depends what machine you have and how nice a job you want....mostly 1 hour and 10 minutes down to 30 minutes for nylon/poly, a little longer for gut.
Most guys can string competently well after maybe 2-5 stringjobs....at least good enough for high level amateur play.
My stringer at a shop charges me 12-15 for each job, above the cost of strings.
String costs from 2.80 to 35.00 per racket.
If you break strings every week or so, it's an idea to consider stringing your own, especially if you have time and little money.

Just bought my own stringer last May. I regret that I waited so long! I used to pay $12 labor plus strings at my club. I paid $10 for Prince Pro Blend because it would last a long time. In addition, I used string savers to extend the life of the string. Now I string with $4 synthetic gut which breaks every few matches and I don't care. My game has improved because I'm always using fresh strings. I never have to worry about not having all my rackets available during a match. I also really enjoy stringing my rackets, I could see doing this as a money making hobby when I retire many moons from now. If I'm not drinking beers, I can do it all in 45 minutes.

Not really a fair poll. This being the "Strings & Stringing" section of the board, you'd expect most of the people reading this topic to be stringers. It's kind of like asking who likes pizza in a pizzeria.

Not really a fair poll. This being the "Strings & Stringing" section of the board, you'd expect most of the people reading this topic to be stringers. It's kind of like asking who likes pizza in a pizzeria.

Click to expand...

Not really, there are a lot of people here who are knowledgeable with strings, mainly because they've experience with them. However, that doesn't mean they string their own racquets.

I string for myself and close friends, for the price of strings only. The good guys in the area do it for string+$10, so there's not much room for me to make much money anyways. Once I start stringing for those that I don't consider my close friends, I'll ask for that same price (string + $10).

I have been stringing for the last 4 years. I was going through 1 or 2 strings per week and then my son started breaking, so it was on average 3 times a week. It saved me a fortune then, now I use polys and they last me forever, I mean months so it is no longer an issue.

I charge around 7£ (12$) per job + strings for team players, and 10£(15$) + strings for others. I do free strings for the junior players and some of the very good ones go through poly and syngut hybrids like mad. So I probably break close to even if i am lucky.